In 1965 Allen Ginsberg flew to Cuba as part of a major poetry event hosted by the Casa de las Americas. He was famously booted out of the country after offending his hosts. In fact, it was never entirely clear why Ginsberg was deported. He liked to say it was for protesting the illegal detention of homosexuals, but it’s more likely that it was a political move by the government to harm the image of Casa de las Americas. In any case, Allen’s outspoken nature meant he was unlikely to get along well under a totalitarian regime like Castro’s. Continue Reading…

Tomorrow we are releasing Mickey Harper’s new book, Off the Road and Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. This is the latest in a long line of scholarly-yet-accessible titles from Beatdom Books – a publishing company dedicated to promoting the best Beat Generation scholarship. To celebrate the release, we’re giving away a free copy of the book. Continue Reading…

Submissions are now open for Beatdom #19 and the theme shall be Asia. We will consider essays relating the Beat Generation to Asia, as well as poems, short stories, and artwork on the topic of Asia. We have selected this theme because it is wide enough to invite a good variety of research. Many of the Beat writers travelled to Asia and those who didn’t were often interested in Asian language, literature, or culture.